Page 42 of Prey It Ain't So

Well, that and corpses, I suppose.

Figuring out the best place to build a place to rest and operate from, was one thing Fitz and I learned quickly. Otherwise, no one got to sleep during these little jaunts, because the goddamn psychos running around that jungle would attack relentlessly. The Khan island jungle isteemingwith fucked up preds who have been abandoned to live it and kill others to entertain theRaj and his court. My twin and I were never caught, never failed, and definitely never gave him a reason to exile us to that wasteland for good.

“What’s wrong?” Dolly whispers to me as the two hosts show the others around the domicile. “You’re very tense suddenly.”

I press my lips together, then shake my head. “Memories, Princess. Nothing for now—but perhaps when we’re back at the school. Okay?”

She nods, her eyes sympathetic as she murmurs, “Sometimes I have these flashes of shit Bruno or Lucille did when something… bumps them? I guess that’s being triggered, but I see memories and I have to sort of fight out of it. Is it like that?”

Nodding, I take her hand and lace our fingers together. “Yes, like that. But you never mention them to us, which I feel is important.”

“If I mentioned every damn thing those fuckers did to me in eighteen years, we’d be sitting around drunk as skunks for months, Felix.” I blink and she shrugs. “They weren’t always home, but when they were, it sucked a lot. I have to deal with it as it comes, and work through my feelings like a big bunny. That doesn’t always require someone else present; it just needs me to admit what happened. It’s the first step.”

I suck in an annoyed breath, looking at her critically. “I’m going to murder that gargoyle if he doesn’t quit letting you read psychology books. It’s not healthy.”

“Au contraire, mon ami!?1” Rennie comes over to us, his expression amused. “It is obviouslyquitehealthy, and the evidence is in front of you. You should try it sometime. Orperhaps you can do a… what do your loud friends call it,petite? A ‘stitch-n-bitch’… yes, that’s it!”

Expression horrified, I blink at them both. “A… what? Fuck,no. I don’t even know what it is and I’m not doing it.”

Dolly chuckles, squeezing my palm as she leans into me. “We all bring things we’re working on—sewing, knitting, crochet for Rufus, and we drink wine while we bitch about our trauma. It’s very cathartic—even Fitzy’s come to one.”

My head turns slowly to look at my hyper twin as he’s doing his best to drive the gargoyles insane with questions about the high ceilings, dinnertime, and everything under the sun. When we lived on the island, doing shit like that would have been tantamount to asking to be assigned to the female ambush section. Yet here Fitz is embracing every damn thing our mate likes, from yoga to dancing to gossip pred sessions with her besties. It’s hard not to realize that going ‘all in’ with her has made his life better in every conceivable way. He does whatever the fuck he wants now—no chemicals needed, and no fucks given.

I might be a little jealous.

“Uh, we’ll see about that… later,” I say, fumbling with the words as I force myself to get it together. “I think we need to save your people from Fitz before there’s some sort of incident.”

Our mate pouts for a moment, then lets go of me to kiss my cheek. “Okay, Sir.” That said, she skips to my twin to see what he’s going on about without looking back.

Renard laughs, giving me a knowing look as he heads back over to detach my twin. “If you say so, Raj.”

Aubrey rumbles a low laugh and I glare at him. The dragon makes a ‘tsk,’ sound as he crosses his arms over his chest. “It makes your life richer to allow new things to take root and strangle the poisonous vines of our past, Felix. Rennie taught me that once I let him in, and though I was not always successful until the lunchable arrived, I am finding it very soothing now.”

“I love her, you giant busybody, and she knows it. We mated. I’m not holding shit back,” I retort. “You haven’t mated her yet, and neither of you winged assholes has given up all your bad shit. How am I any different?”

He arches a brow. “Because you have claimed the spot as the leader—or you believe you have. That means you have stricter parameters than us.”

A low growl echoes in my chest, but the lizard doesn’t even blink. I sigh, rolling my eyes to the ceiling before I say, “Fine. Youmighthave a point. But now sure as fuck isn’t the time.”

“It isn’t? You’ve been having small ‘moments’ since we decided to travel here. Perhaps my mate’s forced reconciliation is bringing your scars to light. Think on it.” Aubrey claps his hand on my shoulder, then walks away to join the others.

Fucking smart ass dragon…

“Alright, that’s enough!” I call as Fitz bounces in place in front of the emissary. “Gentlemen, we need to get cleaned up and make ourselves ready for your elders. Thank you for obliging my brother for so long.”

The relieved look on Vasile’s face makes me want to snort, but I just wait for him and the guard to take their leave. Once they do, I look at my family curiously as they snicker amongst themselves.

“What the hell is so funny?”

Dolly winks at me. “We were hoping to make them activelynotwant to come knocking when we’re not supposed to meet with people. Fitz thought if he was a big enough pain in the ass, he could keep lookie-loos from spying on us when we think we’re alone.”

I’ll be damned—he was actually trying to do something smart, and it worked.

Each of ustook turns washing the grime of the hike off, while the rest stayed downstairs in the living area. The ‘nest’ has an extremely high ceiling with exposed beams I’d guess are strong enough to perch on over an open ground floor. Our bathroom and the large, comfy piles of blankets and pillows that function as the bed area are loft spaces on either side of the vaulted room. There’s a small kitchenette on one side of the large space, along with another giant ‘nest’ in the middle, and a desk and chair towards the front. There are even high stools at an island similar to home where we can gather or eat. It’s not fucking bad for a ‘guest’ house for visitors that Ren makes it sound like they rarely admit.

I look over at the princess as she curls up on a pillow with her long, wet locks spilling over the linens. “Who’s going to tell me what the damn test was when we came in? Thathasto be settled before we go out there amongst people we don’t know.”

Renard is lounging in the big blanket fort comfortably—not surprising given his bedrooms in the past—but he sits up at my question. He rakes his hand through his hair, squeezing his eyesshut for a second before he blows out a breath. “Mais oui, we should. I must apologize for my reticence about it as well. I had reasons for keeping it quiet and also reasons for not telling you, which you might not understand. I know that.”

---